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September 6, 2013

Hi lovelies!Have you heard about Rebekah Crane's latest release, ASPEN? Her awesome cover was just revealed YESTERDAY! I already wanted to read this book because I loved Rebekah's first book, PLAYING NICE. But as soon as I saw ASPEN's cover, it jumped to the top of my TBR pile. Here's a little info about the book so you can add it to your pile too!

One quiet night in Boulder, Colorado, Aspen Yellow-Sunrise Taylor made a mistake.In the next instant, her life changed forever.Aspen doesn't want to remember when Katelyn Ryan, a sleek-haired popular soccer player, crossed the yellow line in her car and smashed into Aspen's. But forgetting is pretty hard- because Katelyn may have died - but she didn't leave. Her ghost is following Aspen around, and heading into senior year, it's kind of a problem. Especially when Katelyn's gorgeous former boyfriend Ben appears to be the only person at school with a clue as to how Aspen feels.Popularity, college, Homecoming Court, hot guys - none of these things ever mattered to Aspen. She's been busy trying to rein in her giant mass of blonde curls, keep her stoner mother Ninny away from Toaster, her mom's awful bongo drumming boyfriend, and prevent her best friends Kim and Cass from killing - or kissing - one another. But with Ben sitting next to her in Physics looking all too gorgeous, Katelyn's spirit dogging her steps, and her obsessive snow-globe collecting therapist begging her to remember all the things she wants to forget, Aspen is thrust into a vivid, challenging world she can't control … and doesn't want to.A darkly funny, emotionally gripping story of opening up, letting go, and moving on, ASPEN is about the best-worst accident of your life ... and what comes next.

Doesn't it sound great? Go ahead and add it to your Goodreads shelves here. You know you want to. Then come right back to read this short interview to learn more about the story through the adorable words of its author.

Here's the question we all know and love! Where did you come up with the idea for Aspen?

About a year and a half ago, the concept came to me. I was in the middle of final edits for PLAYING NICE and it hit me: I wanted to write a book about a girl struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from a car accident, and who thinks she's being followed around by the ghost of the girl who died. That was the original concept. And then I decided it would be TOTALLY awesome if Aspen, the main character, falls for the dead girls ex-boyfriend, Ben. Now you have a ghost, a super fun/cute guy, and a girl who can't seem to get her head straight because she's been through one of the most horrific things a teenager can go through. Throw in a pothead mom, two best friends who hate to love each other and a therapist who collects un-Godly amounts of snow globes.

And you have ASPEN.

I love love love the cover. Did you have an idea of what you wanted for the cover, and did you have a lot of input in the design?

My editor actually came up with the idea. The really cool thing about the book is that it's funny. You should laugh out loud at numerous parts. So the cover really had to reflect that. Yes, it's about the death of a teenager. Yes, everyone in the book has major issues. Yes, there's kissing. But there is humor involved in all that the characters do. And I love the cover. I can't wait to see it in print.

Who's your favorite character in the book, and why?

This is like asking a parent who their favorite child is! I can't answer this!

Okay, I'll tell you what I love most about some of them:

Aspen and Ben have a really rich, witty, tortured banter the entire book and writing it was AWESOME (and at times so hard because I knew it had to be THAT good).

Kim and Cass, Aspen's best friends, have very sarcastic, snarky dialogue and I LOVE their one liners.

And Ninny, Aspen's mom, is the character I think most people will walk away thinking about. She's totally inappropriate and flighty and loves pot too much, but she LOVES Aspen down to her core.

What was the most challenging part of writing this story? (Were there any particular scenes that were difficult, etc.?)

The dialogue. Oh God. I spent days on scenes. I'm a maniac with it. Everything between Ben and Aspen had to be smart and funny and realistic and also romantic. Oh yeah, throw in that they both are suffering terribly, so there has to be internal torture, too. So... yeah. The dialogue. And I have to say, every time I read their scenes I laugh and want to cry at the same time.

What was the easiest part of writing this story?

When I start a story, I've known the characters in my head for a while. I know how they sound, how they dress, how they move through a room. I live with them so wholly for so long, they feel real. That's the easiest part-- Falling in love with them over and over again.

Rebekah's doing a giveaway to celebrate her cover reveal this week too!

Rebekah Crane fell in love with YA literature while studying Secondary English Education at Ohio University, but it wasn't until ten years and two daughters later that she started to write it. Inspired by her past students, growing up in Cleveland with its fabulous musical theater community, and music of all kinds (particularly the Avett Brothers), she created PLAYING NICE. It is her first published novel, but having an unbridled imagination, it's not the only fantasy world she's lived in (just ask her husband). ASPEN, her second YA creation, is set to release in January 2014. She now lives in Colorado, where the altitude only enhances the experience.